Wireless remote controls are widely used in consumer electronics and other settings to control many different types of devices. Televisions, media players, set-top boxes (including satellite and/or cable television receivers), audio/video components, climate controls and many other devices and systems are designed to respond to user commands that are issued using a remote control device. Television viewers, for example, commonly use remote controls to adjust the volume, to select programming, and/or to take any number of other actions relating to their televisions or television receivers.
Historically, remote controls primarily used infrared signaling that typically required a one-way line-of-sight between the remote and the controlled device. More recently, however, remote controls have been designed to communicate with using radio frequency (RF) technologies. Conventional RF implementations are no longer restricted to line-of-sight signaling paths, thereby allowing significantly improved mobility and freedom to place the controlled device in places that may not be visible to the viewer (e.g., in another room, in an attic or basement, in a cabinet or other storage space, and/or the like). This increased freedom, however, can create complications in determining a proper location for the controlled device during installation. Moreover, if quality of communications between the remote and the controlled device happen to change for any reason during operation, diagnosing the reasons for the change in quality can be challenging for many users.
Moreover, present diagnostic tools available to installers and troubleshooters can be severely limited. Often, maintenance decisions are based upon simple “go/no-go” decisions wherein the product is simply identified as non-operational, without regard to the cause of the issue. If a remote control and a controlled device do not operate properly in a particular installation, many troubleshooters will rapidly conclude that either or both components are faulty, thereby leading to expensive equipment replacements that may not be needed. Communications issues can generate a substantial number of customer service calls, service calls and unneeded equipment replacements, resulting in significant expense for the equipment operator.
It is therefore desirable to create systems and methods that are able to conveniently measure the quality of the communications between a remote control and a controlled device, and to provide feedback about the signal quality to an installer, user and/or other person. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.